


With Post-War Feelings Comes Healing

by ScorpionKing



Category: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Thorne & Rowling
Genre: Gen, Slytherin Albus Severus Potter, Slytherin Scorpius Malfoy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-31
Updated: 2019-11-30
Packaged: 2021-01-15 02:54:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,182
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21246299
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ScorpionKing/pseuds/ScorpionKing
Summary: It is several months after the battle against the feared daughter of Voldemort, Delphi, and Albus Potter and Scorpius Malfoy are still having nightmares. Albus is constantly worried about Scorpius and what he seems to be hiding from him, because, somewhere in their midst, darkness still lurks...





	1. Don't you worry, mate

**Author's Note:**

> Here's my first fan fiction! I'm so excited to become a part of this whole exciting thing called posting fan fiction (seriously, before this, all I could do was keep it to my self...)! Here is my first work, which I assume you'll like (seriously, if you don't... I'm just kidding!). Anyway, I hope you enjoy reading about the recovery of my favorite Slytherins!

Albus tosses and turns in his sleep, he is having a nightmare. He sees again the face of Delphi as she tortures Scorpius, who is contorted in the most horrid of shapes, screaming.  
“Scorpius!” Albus screams, his voice echoing terribly across the empty Quidditch pitch.  
Despite how much Albus screamed while seeing his friend suffer, he wouldn’t---he couldn’t---give in.  
“I will…” he said.  
“What?” Delphi asked, laughing, her voice sending a chill down Albus’ spine, “What on earth do you think you can do? A wizardwide disappointment? A sore on your family name? A spare? You want to stop me hurting your only friend? Then do what you’re told.”  
She looks at Albus, but his eyes stay resistant.  
“No? Crucio!” Delphi exclaims, pointing her wand at Scorpius and causing him to scream in excruciating pain again.  
“Stop! Please.” Albus sobs.  
He couldn’t take it anymore. Scorpius’ screams were hurting him. He needed to wake up. So he did, right as Delphi looked at him. Drenched in sweat, Albus screams for Scorpius, still scared. Scorpius must have heard, because he pulled open his bed hangings, his usually tidy hair disheveled. Albus looks at him, then takes a deep, shaking breath.  
“S-Scorpius, she---she t-tortured you.” Albus stammers, his voice shaking, on the verge of tears, “I-I don’t know wh-what to---what if she comes after us again? I---I’m scared, Scorpius.”  
Scorpius looks into his friend’s face, trying to see behind his friend’s emerald green eyes, trying to detect what was hurting him.  
“What’s wrong? Albus?” he asks.  
Scorpius felt panicked at the rude awakening, but as he woke up, he realized what was going on.  
“Did you have another nightmare, mate?” he continues, “It’s okay, I’m here. She isn’t torturing me. She’s in Azkaban.”  
Albus takes a deep breath, nodding slowly.  
“I know, but it’s always the same one.” he explains, “I see her---torturing you---on the Quidditch pitch---trying to force me into going back in time with her to stop Cedric from winning the Triwizard Tournament so that he couldn’t be killed.”  
Scorpius looks at his friend for another minute, then reaches out and takes his hand.  
“I know.” he said, “But it’s over now, okay? It’s over now.”  
“Yeah...I suppose…” Albus replied.  
He doesn’t know what is making him feel this way. But he can sense...something. There is something---probably in this very room---that contains traces of darkness. Sighing, Albus looks over at the clock on the windowsill, which reads 6:45AM. There isn’t enough time for him to catch up on sleep, so he stretches and climbs out of bed.  
He pauses for a moment as the sun’s warm rays shine through the window, catching onto a lock of Scorpius’ white-blond hair and making it glow. Albus smiles. Everything was alright again. He is safe. Scorpius is safe.  
Delphi is in Azkaban, far away from Hogwarts. Everything is almost back to normal. Now all that mattered was healing the still-bleeding mental and emotional wounds that were left after the events of fourth year. Albus knows just what to do to help that.  
“So...you said at the end of last year that you were going to try for a position on the Slytherin Quidditch team, are you still considering it?” he asks, “I mean, we hated Quidditch, and only a few months ago, you had that sudden interest…”  
“I don’t know…” Scorpius answers, shrugging, “It seems fun. I don’t know why. Hey, it’s Saturday---do you want to go practice? With just the two of us, it might be fun. Even for you!”  
“Sure!” Albus exclaims, “I mean, it might help to get my mind off things…”  
There is a second of silence, in which the boys smile at each other.  
“Well, let’s get down to breakfast, I’m starving.” Albus continues, “Besides, I know how much you love your homework, and you wouldn’t want to run out of time to do that.”  
Albus smiles playfully at Scorpius.  
“Breakfast sounds great!” Scorpius exclaims, completely unperturbed by the way that Albus stares at him.  
And, after getting dressed into their school robes, the two boys walk down to the Great Hall together. It is still pretty empty when they got there, because it’s early and not many people are up around that time. Albus and Scorpius go over to the Slytherin table, and, upon seeing all of the choices for breakfast, Scorpius looks at Albus.  
“What are you going to eat?” he asks.  
And, without waiting for an answer, he sits down at the table and piles eggs and bacon onto his plate.  
“Same as you.” Albus answers, a little late.  
He sits down next to his friend, serving himself some eggs and bacon. Upon doing so, he looks over at the Gryffindor table, where Lily, James and Rose are sitting together. James sees Albus looking, and sticks his tongue out at him. Lily, on the other hand, gave Albus an encouraging smile, which he returns. Rose smiles at Albus, too, then looks at Scorpius, giving him a small smile as well. Scorpius had noticed Albus sitting frozen next to him, and looked up to see what was going on.  
That was when he saw Rose, and now he sits for a moment, gaping at her. Then he raises his hand into the air and waves energetically to her. Rose responds by looking around at her cousins and blushing profusely, her black cheeks noticeably darkening, as James laughs at Scorpius. Then, to Albus’ utter annoyance, James proceeds to stick his tongue out at Scorpius, too. Scorpius lowers his hand, his pale face rapidly turning bright pink.  
“Don’t mind James.” Albus says, noticing Scorpius’ pink cheeks, “He’s a loser of a bully, anyway. But, you know what? We’re losers, too, but we can already prove that we’re better than him. I think Rose is beginning to like you back, though.”  
There is a moment of silence between them, in which Scorpius’ face goes slightly pinker. Albus notices and steers the conversation out of the uncomfortable waters.  
“Come on, mate, eat up. You’re going to need your strength for Quidditch tryouts later. Not to mention homework.”  
Scorpius shakes his head.  
“I don’t know, pal.” he replies, “She’s coming around so fast, I’m not sure I’m ready!”  
And, with that, he began to eat his food ravenously. Albus is momentarily surprised.  
“Since when have you acted like such a Hufflepuff, Scorpius?” he asks, “You’re eating like it’s the last chance you’ll ever get to. Slow down, you could choke on something.”  
“Hey, I’m hungry!” Scorpius exclaims, swallowing a massive mouthful of eggs, “Besides, we have a busy day today. I don’t want to have to stop my Potions’ homework for an early lunch.”  
“Scorpius, that essay isn’t due for two weeks.” Albus points out, “And don’t you dare tease me about liking the professor, because you know I don’t. But I’ll still be the first of us to get a girlfriend. I think…”  
As he said this, he glances uncertainly over at Rose, who seems to be watching Scorpius over the book she has open in front of her. Albus can see a small, shy smile that can only mean one thing…  
“Not with Rose around!” Scorpius exclaims, distracting Albus from his thoughts, “Besides, the sooner we start on the essay, the more time we have to work on it and the better it’ll be.”  
“You’re obsessed.” Albus says, rolling his eyes.  
They finish their breakfast in silence. One done, Albus pushes his plate away and stands.  
“Come on, then.” he says, “Let’s see if we can’t convince people that I am not terrible at Potions.”  
“You aren’t as terrible as you make it sound!” Scorpius exclaims, “And you’re brilliant at Charms.”  
“Only because Delphi stepped in and taught me Expelliarmus…” Albus says slowly, “And, if it weren’t for her, none of those dangerous things would have happened. She would never have tortured you.”  
“But Albus, I’m fine now.” Scorpius replies, trying to comfort his friend, “Plus, you’re still good at Charms. So all in all, it turned out as well as it could.”  
“Yeah…” Albus says uncertainly.  
But he has a sudden thought that scares him just about as much as seeing Scorpius tortured had. What if Delphi had taught him, Albus, Expelliarmus because it was the spell his dad had used to defeat her father? What if she had found that it could be used to reverse things? Albus’ father could have died, and it would have been all Albus’ fault. As he thinks this, it is as though lightning strikes him, causing him to fall to the floor, shaking uncontrollably in sobs of guilt and grief. He felt Scorpius wrap his gentle arms around him in a comforting embrace.  
“Albus, shh, it’s okay. It’s okay.” Scorpius whispers soothingly, gently stroking his hair.  
That was the thing with Scorpius Malfoy. Albus assumed that, because he had lost his mother at an early age, Scorpius had needed to grow into himself in a way that no other boy in their year had. Scorpius was one who would take any measures to make sure that others were okay, especially if it was Albus. This thought alone helps to calm Albus down, and he takes a deep breath, looking at his friend, who had let go of him and stood up at the moment of his calming.  
“It’s alright.” Scorpius assures him, “Let’s get you some chocolate, okay?”  
Deep down, Albus wholeheartedly agreed with this plan, but he still didn’t have the strength to show it. Wiping tears from his face, he got carefully to his feet. He nods, then the two boys set off down the corridor and behind a tapestry, where they had concealed a stash of chocolate a few months before. Smiling weakly at Scorpius, Albus took the first piece of chocolate. After eating it, he felt only a tiny bit better. Albus took a deep breath. He had only half a mind to feel embarrassed about crying in front of Scorpius.  
“Thanks.” Albus says, hugging his friend gently and quickly, as they still weren’t used to it, “I don’t know what I’d do without you, Scorpius. But---let’s still skip out on the Quidditch practice. Come to think of it, I’m---I’m still a tiny bit scared of that place.”  
Scorpius nods, then the two boys take some chocolate and continue down to the Slytherin dormitory.


	2. Scorpius the Dreadless

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While Albus continues to wonder what is inside Scorpius' trunk, Scorpius himself is facing struggles of his own. He knows he doesn't want to hold onto this deadly secret, but he also doesn't know how Albus would react if he knew he was keeping it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's been a while! But I'm here now, with another chapter to this fabulous story depicting the healing process of Albus and Scorpius. I hope you enjoy this chapter as much (or more) than the last one!

That night, Albus lay in his bed, with his arm dangling off the side, his hand holding Scorpius’. This had become a regular routine of theirs, in the hope that it would protect them from the awful memories of Delphi. For all Albus knew, it worked for Scorpius. But, then again, Scorpius had always been very good at hiding his pains.  
“Scorpius?” Albus asks, “Are you okay, mate? You---aren’t saying much.”  
“Yeah, I’m going to be alright.” Scorpius answers bravely.  
Scorpius takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly. He has been remembering the Quidditch pitch too, but he doesn’t want Albus to know. He wants to protect Albus rather than asking Albus to protect him from the memories.  
Albus can tell by the sound of his friend’s voice that he isn’t alright, but he doesn’t want to press the matter. However, he still wants his friend to know he isn’t alone, so he answers the unspoken truth.  
“Nor am I.”  
Scorpius looks at him for a second, and, just as it had when they first met, something passes between them. They see each others’ pain and silently promise that they will fight through it together, like they always have.  
“I’m not going to be able to sleep, and I doubt you are either.” Scorpius relents finally, sitting up, “Do you want to go do something?”  
Scorpius knows a distraction will be helpful.  
Albus thinks for a minute and then nods, knowing what Scorpius has in mind. Ever since their first Astronomy lesson, Scorpius has never failed to point out his constellation from which he got his name. His mother had shown him when he was young, and now, whenever he has a bad day at school, he disappears up to the Astronomy Tower for about a half-hour at most.  
“Yeah, we can go up to the Astronomy Tower.” Albus answers, “You can show me your constellation. Teach me about the stars. Anything to distract you---and me---from our almost constant fears.”  
Scorpius shakes his head.  
“I wanted to do something for you instead.” he says, “You know your favorite thing to do at night. Let’s sneak into the kitchen and get dessert. After all, I saw that you didn’t have any at dinner. Maybe they have ice cream, or treacle tart. Besides, it would be a brand new adventure, one we’ve never had before.”  
Albus thinks for a minute before replying.  
“Yeah, let’s just hope we don’t get caught by the caretaker. It’s after curfew, after all. Also...let’s try to stay away from the moving staircases...those have some bad memories connected to them, too.”  
Scorpius nods, agreeing.  
“Yes, but we aren’t going to talk about that right now. It’s important to talk about it sometimes, but tonight isn’t the right night. Tonight, we’re having fun. Besides, a friend of mine told me how to get into the kitchen from the castle. He said it had something to do with tickling fruit---a pear, I think? A pear in a painting, I mean. Let’s go!”  
He takes off, glancing over his shoulder to make sure Albus followed.  
Albus dashes after Scorpius. Over the summer, he remembered seeing Muggle children play a certain game, and he wants to try it out for himself. In spite of his slightly shorter legs, Albus catches up to Scorpius easily, and, reaching out a hand, he taps Scorpius’ shoulder.  
“Tag! You’re it!” he exclaims, bolting ahead of Scorpius, “Catch me if you can!”  
And Albus races ahead and down the corridor, with Scorpius on his tail. Both boys laugh in delight.  
“Tag!” Scorpius cries as he nearly tackles Albus, before racing away again.  
“I say!” a painting exclaims, “You boys shouldn’t be out here.”  
“Albus doesn’t pay attention to the painting. Instead, he chases Scorpius down a stone corridor. He ends up almost running into his friend, who has slowed down, looking around for something. Embarrassingly enough, to stop himself, Albus throws his arms out and grabs onto Scorpius’ waist, which only causes them both to topple to the floor, with Albus landing on top of Scorpius. He feels his face burn with embarrassment, and carefully tries to get up, before realizing that they are tangled.  
Albus looks at Scorpius, whose usually tidy hair is now dispersed over his face. Albus doesn’t know whether to try to get untangled first, or to fix Scorpius’ hair. So he reaches out a hand and carefully brushes Scorpius’ hair out of his eyes, feeling his blush-warm skin. Albus finishes quickly, then goes back to trying to untangle himself from Scorpius.  
“Sorry.” Scorpius mumbles, embarrassed, pulling himself out from underneath Albus.  
The two boys stood.  
“Should we go in the kitchen?” Scorpius suggests, “I think this is the painting.”  
He points at a painting of a fruit bowl over Albus’ shoulder.  
Nodding, Albus follows Scorpius into the kitchen, where they are immediately surrounded by beaming little house elves.  
“Wow.” Albus says, almost sarcastic.  
“Hello!” Scorpius exclaims enthusiastically to the house elves.  
“Is Young Master hungry?” one of them squeaks.  
“Yes, is it okay if we have some food?” Scorpius asks, “I didn’t expect anyone to be here!”  
The house elves immediately scramble forward with all sorts of treats. Albus looks at Scorpius, amazed.  
“You know, my dad has tales of freeing your family’s house elf, named...Dobby...I think.” he says, “Are they true, do you know? I mean, you read loads of books and I would assume you would find it somewhere, right?”  
Scorpius laughs.  
“House elves are freed when someone gives them a piece of clothing, right?” he explains, “So your dad had this old Horcrux, a journal of Voldemort’s from when he was a teenager, and he had destroyed it in the Chamber of Secrets. And your dad put his sock inside and handed it to my grandfather, Lucius Malfoy. Well, Lucius didn’t want this old, destroyed, and venom-filled book, so he handed it to Dobby, who was freed. Mum told me that story.”  
His voice takes a sad downturn on the last sentence, but he is still smiling a bit.  
Albus notices his friend’s voice falter as he mentions his mother. Albus reaches out a hand and puts it consolingly on Scorpius’ shoulder.  
“I know it’s hard for you, mate.” he says softly, “But remember, if you ever need someone to talk to, I’m here.”  
There is a second of silence, then Scorpius wraps his arms around Albus, shaking. Albus responds instantly, wrapping his arms around him and massaging Scorpius’ back as his mother did for him whenever he was upset. Maybe his dad is right, maybe Albus is like his mother. Then, as Scorpius lifts his head, Albus sees a tear fall and gently brushes it away, showing Scorpius just how much of a good friend he is.  
“Tell me later...in the common room.” Albus says quietly, “I think there’s something tying you to the past, and I want to make sure we get rid of whatever it may be.”  
At first, Scorpius feels immense relief at the idea of sharing what it was. But then he remembers how fragile Albus seems already. He didn’t want to hurt him more.  
“Don’t worry, mate.” Scorpius assures him, forcing himself to sound truthful, “It’s just thinking about my mum… There’s nothing else. Let’s just eat some goodies, right? That’s what we’re here for!”  
“Right...yeah…” Albus says, distrustful.  
For the first time, Albus casts a suspicious look at his friend. He knows Scorpius is hiding something, and he knows it is a dark secret. As Scorpius continues to accept food from the house elves, Albus hangs back, thinking. If he couldn’t get the secret out of Scorpius, he would have to do some poking around. No matter what it takes, Albus will make sure that they are safe from darkness once and for all.  
Scorpius senses that Albus doesn’t believe him, and it made him quite uncomfortable. He tries to start a conversation to distract them both.  
“So, um...read any good books recently?” he asks.  
“Books?” Albus repeats, slightly taken aback.  
They both know that the only time Albus has ever touched a book has been with Scorpius.  
“No...you?”  
Later, Albus promises himself, later he will find Scorpius’ secret. For now, he can just spend quality time with his friend.  
“Um...well, I’m reading a biography of Helga Hufflepuff.” Scorpius answers slowly, knowing Albus doesn’t really care, “Try the snickerdoodle cookie, it’s amazing!”  
“Okay!” Albus exclaims, relaxing once he realizes he has everything planned out.  
Albus and Scorpius eat their cookies in silence for a few moments, then Scorpius speaks.  
“So...do you like it? The cookie?”  
Scorpius eats another one. This adventure is turning out to be a lot less fun than he had planned. He knows Albus is onto him, and he doesn’t want to talk about it.  
“Yeah…” Albus answers, yawning, “Maybe we should go back to bed. I’m so...t-tired.”  
Albus yawns again.  
“Okay, let’s go back to bed.” Scorpius agrees.  
He thanks the house elves, then steers Albus out of the door. He feels groggy now as well, come to think of it. It takes an effort for him to keep his eyes open, let alone walk.  
Albus and Scorpius support each other as they walk slowly back to their common room and up to their dorm. Scorpius’ bed is closest to the door, and he immediately collapses in a heap.  
“Next time, let’s plan these little excursions more---in the daytime.” Albus suggests, yawning and sinking under his covers, which were warm and comfortable.  
“Yeah, good idea…” Scorpius replies, hoping he didn’t sound offhand.  
Scorpius pulls himself under his blankets, too, but he can’t sleep, not with what is on his mind. The secret he has been keeping from Albus since November still lay deep in his mind. Just the thought of it almost causes Scorpius physical pain. He has to tell him. He knows just how much Albus would worry if he saw him hurt.  
“Hey, Albus?” Scorpius whispers.  
He waits a second, but there is no answer, so Scorpius merely yawns and slowly drifts off to sleep.  
Albus is too tired to talk, but his brain is working, thinking about what Scorpius’ secret might be. Even after he is asleep, Albus’ thoughts follow him into his dreams. He sees the aftermath of the battle with Delphi, then as his dad took her to Azkaban. As they flew in a carriage drawn by thestrals, Albus saw as Scorpius slipped something into his pocket when he thought no one was looking. Albus couldn’t tell what it was, but he was being very sneaky about it.  
As a sudden, powerful thought comes into his mind, Albus jerks awake, breathing deep, panicked breaths. It has something to do with Delphi, he knows it does. But what he doesn’t know is why Scorpius would keep something connected to the woman who had tortured him on more than one occasion. Albus knew Scorpius was too smart for that. But that meant there had to be another reason…  
“Scorpius?” Albus whispers.  
When his friend doesn’t answer, Albus leans over and gently pulls Scorpius’ bed hangings open slightly. He finds Scorpius sleeping peacefully, curled up under his blankets with his favorite stuffed niffler, which he said kept the nightmares away. Albus smiles at his friend. He can wait for his friend to catch up on some well-deserved sleep. Carefully closing the curtains again, Albus climbs out of his bed and walks to the window, taking the pitcher of water from the sill and filling himself a glass.  
As he drinks slowly, Albus stares out of the algae-covered window and into the lake, where the giant squid is gently drifting around, lazily propelling itself. By its behaviour, Albus can tell that it was very early in the morning. Thankfully, Albus hadn’t been able to wake Scorpius. Finishing his glass of water, Albus walks back to his bed and tries to get a bit more sleep.

As he wakes, Scorpius is initially confused about why he feels so tired. Then he remembers his and Albus’ late night adventure.  
“Albus, you awake?” Scorpius asks.  
When Albus doesn’t answer, Scorpius checks his watch, then tries again.  
“Albus, wake up, class is starting in just a little while.”  
Before Albus wakes up, however, Scorpius opens his trunk and slides a hand to the bottom. Satisfied when he finds what he had been searching for, he turns around to see Albus watching him, his brow furrowed.  
“There’s something...I knew there was something Dark in there!” Albus exclaims, hurrying to his friend’s side and trying to get a better look.  
Albus sees something with a white handle in his friend’s trunk before Scorpius hastily slams it shut and attempts to distract him.  
“Albus! You’re awake.” he says, “Hey, do you...uh…want to hear a joke?”  
“Uh…” Albus replies, blinking, confused, “All I want to know is why you’re acting so weird…”  
“Weird? I’m not acting weird.” Scorpius answers, trying not to make his voice sound guilty. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Why would I act weird?”  
“Because…” Albus begins.  
Then he remembers all of the other times that Scorpius had been weird. He remembers when he had tried to flirt with Rose by telling her that she smelled like bread, and then there was the time in the past Godric’s Hollow when he had claimed that his “geekness was a-quivering.” Maybe Scorpius was always weird. Albus sighs, relenting.  
“Okay, you’re always weird.” he says, “Because you are my best friend.”  
Scorpius relaxes. Albus isn’t onto him.  
“Are you hungry after our midnight snack?” Scorpius asks, “I might just eat toast this morning, because I’m still kind of full.”  
“Same.” Albus agrees.  
He yawns. He really wished he hadn’t gone on the adventure. Goodness, he couldn’t even remember why he and Scorpius went on it in the first place. All he knew now was that it would be much harder than usual to survive classes. He groans as he checks his schedule.  
“Double Potions with the Gryffindors.” he informs Scorpius, “I bet Polly will be teasing me again at my amazing potion skills. You really need to help me with this one, Scor.”  
“I always help you, and this time won’t be any different.” Scorpius assures him, “Just follow the directions carefully and you’ll have no problems at all!”  
“Thanks, Scor.” Albus says, somewhat relieved.  
“You’re welcome.” Scorpius replies, yawning.  
“Oh, come on, don’t fall asleep on me now!” Albus exclaims.  
Smiling, Albus goes with Scorpius down to the dungeons.


End file.
